Rocket fire continues despite ceasefire: Palestinian gunmen fired at least 15 rockets and three mortar shells into Israel
on Sunday. The Israel Air Force attacked and hit the rocket launchers.

Shortly after 2 pm, a rocket hit the yard of a house in Ashdod. A man was moderately injured and a woman was lightly wounded in the hand by shrapnel. An air raid siren did not sound before the rocket landed.

Nofar, who lives on the Ashdod street hit by the rocket, told Ynet, "The rocket landed between two houses and caused heavy damage. Many ambulances and police cars have arrived. The siren didn’t sound before the rocket landed.

"I was sitting at home when I heard a very loud explosion which was very close. My house wasn't hit, but it trembled. I didn’t think the rocket fire would end today. It was clear that it would continue despite the ceasefire. Unfortunately, life continues in the fortified room. We have no other solutiobn."

At around 5 pm a rocket launched from Gaza landed in an open area adjacent to Netivot, in the western Negev.

No casualties or damages were reported.

One of the rockets fired in the morning hit the Sderot area, another rocket hit a henhouse in a kibbutz and a third one landed near another kibbutz. Three other rockets also landed in open areas. The mortar shells hit open areas in the Eshkol Regional Council. There were no reports of injuries.

House hit in Ashdod (Photo: Avi Roccah)

One rocket landed in the Kiryat Gat area just before noon, hitting a deserted henhouse. Two additional rockets were fired at the Ashkelon area at around 1 pm. One landed within the city and another outside. One woman suffered shock and a building sustained light damage.

Another rocket landed within the Sdot Negev Regional Council. Two rockets hit the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council at 1:45 pm.

Gabi, who is responsible for the henhouses in the kibbutz hit by one of the rockets, told Ynet he was only several meters away from coop. "I heard the Color Red alert and lay down on the floor because the place is not fortified.

"The rocket directly hit the henhouse, causing heavy damage. We have some 160,000 chickens, and between 200 to 300 of them died and many of them are traumatized due to the pressure. We must get them out of here, both because the henhouse has been damaged and because of the trauma they're in. Luckily it ended like this and not in the loss of human lives."

One of rockets which hit Negev (Photo: Reuters)

While Israel's unilateral ceasefire in Gaza went into effect at 2 am Sunday, the security establishment estimated
Saturday night that Hamas
would continue to fire rockets and mortars toward the country's southern region in the coming days to prove that they "have the "last word in the conflict.

The first incident
since the ceasefire was recorded Sunday morning, when Palestinian gunmen opened fire at Israel Defense Forces soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip, about six hours after the unilateral ceasefire declared by Israel took effect. The soldiers fired back.

The army reported that the troops had spotted the source of the fire and fired back with a tank aided by an Air Force aircraft. The gunmen were reportedly hit. There were no injuries among the soldiers.

The schools in most rocket-stricken cities remained closed Sunday. Sderot Mayor David Buskila said
Saturday night that as he did not intervene in the decision to enter the Gaza Strip, he now accepts the government's decision.

"We'll accept any decision the government makes, as long as the city of Sderot is not fired on again. And as far as I understand, the moment this happens the IDF will act," he explained.